How long has it been? We usually reserve such a question for a friend we have not seen or spoken to in awhile. In this case, I am referring to an original show from Apple TV+, which had its first season two years ago. Small details have stayed with me, but mostly, it is a bit of a blur. In summation, it was good to very good, in terms of how I felt about scoring it, overall, if my memory serves me correctly. So, here we are, two years later, ready to quickly revisit the past and connect it to the present. Can season two of “Swagger” live up to the fairly high standards of the previous season? Will the tone and style feel at all the same or familiar or will it be a completely. Different experience compared to before? Let us find out…
The cast of “Swagger”is pretty much unchanged. All of the stars, whether it be the coaching staff or the players, have returned: O’Shea Jackson Jr (“Cocaine Bear”) as Ike Edwards, Isaiah Hill as Jace Carson, Shinelle Azoroh as Jenna Carson, Tessa Ferrer as Meg Bailey, Quvenzhane Wallis (“American Horror Stories”) as Crystal Jarrett, Caleel Harris as Musa Rahim, Tristan Wilds (“Praise This”) as Alonzo Powers and so on. In addition, for the new season, we have: Christina Jackson as Tonya Edwards, Orlando Jones (“The Book of Love”) as Emory Price and Shannon Brown as LJ Ryder. Above all, Jones sets himself apart from the rest of the pack the most. His role was unique compared to anything else I had previously seen him in and for the most part he performed extremely well. I only hope enough of the right people will take notice.
The first episode of Season 2, which is the 11th episode overall, is entitled ‘The World Ain’t Ready.’ Immediately, we are taken into the throws of high school basketball championship energy, filled with musical nostalgia and somewhat tired locker room team preparations. The tweets, in-game and off the court resume, as well, helping to keep the modern way of communications relevant to the story, which is good. Coach Ike finds himself looking on at his former players and we can only help but wonder if he will be coaching these kids again, some time soon. One thing that is working in this show’s favor is the fact that even though it has been two years since I have seen this series, I do not feel lost or like I need to go back and rewatch the first season. As expected, this episode is filled with a great deal of exposition and at one point, I was growing tired of it, but all-in-all, it was a very good opening episode to kick off the new season.
Episode 2, ‘18,’ picks up nicely where the previous episode left off. Jace is dealing with the prospect of not necessarily being the de facto star anymore. He is also weighing the pros and cons of taking his game to the next level and beyond. With the age of adulthood on the horizon, he is now a man, at least on paper and has grownup decisions to make, far sooner than most of us have had to make them. Changes are happening all around Jace and with that come the good and the bad. Is the team going to unite and grow stronger or grow weaker, instead?
In my honest opinion, the next two episodes make up the lowest point of the season. ‘Rise and Fall’ starts out by providing us more depth to an very interesting character, which is great, but it never returns at any other time during the season. The past is coming back to bite some of the players of the team in their buds, but for the longest time, nothing happens and by the time something DOES happen, the release feels less-stimulating because I had given up on it by then. So, the rise is great, but the fall is short and does not seem so steep. As for the follow-up, ‘Through the Fire,’ it is something of a companion piece for the previous installment and things are now a lot more tense. I felt like the pacing was picking up, again, much like it did in Episode 1, but the flow is not as nice. Furthermore, the team for a new antagonist shows itself here, but never reaches anywhere special and the stances and motivations for the characters at the heart of the plot are too self-serving and socio-politically charged in an unoriginal way to be as effective as they aim to be. Perhaps, the lack of real acting expertise is taking hold at this time.
Episodes 5 and 6 get the series back on track. ‘Are We Free?’ goes in a new direction and is more engaging. We have seen the faces of kids who are thriving and now we are taking a closer look at kids who have NOT been as successful. In other words, they failed to respond to their challenges in a positive way and the consequences can become quite tragic. Be on the lookout for a great cameo appearance from someone who was very intricate to the social landscape of America during a tumultuous time in history. The socio-political narrative lingers a bit more, but does not reach the same screeching pitch as it did before, though it is very one-sided. There is no actual basketball, but there will be, soon, and it is worth the wait. ‘Jace and Crystal’ revisits a potentially-romantic scenario that has not been around since early in Season 1 of “Swagger.” A handful of the basketball players are coming to terms with their past behavior, but they are making those decisions based on what they believe is right versus what they know is smart. You can decide for yourself if they made a mistake or not.
Without any doubt in my mind, ‘Homecoming’ is the best episode of Season 2. The title takes on a double entendre and the greater of the two is one involving a secondary player and his father. They now take front and center and for just this moment, it is all that matters in the story and I loved it. Character depth counts for a lot, after all. In the end, everyone has a lot on their respective plates to deal with and they ALL need the support of those who matter to them. That is a great feeling when it occurs.
Closing out the season is ‘Journey and Destination.’ I want to ask a question I asked as I was watching this one unfold: IS freedom about seizing the moment? My biggest gripe is that the basketball portions did not seem to inhabit enough of the story, closing things out. There was something very important to achieve and it came and went with such haste, in my view. The end would not seem to end. It dragged on and became preachy, once more.
So, this may well be the end of the series; a mere 18 episodes in total. Overall, the season was good, but not great. If I could predict how it compares to the initial season, I would say it is not quite as good, but only by a little. The beauty of getting consistency through writers is key and I think that has a lot to do with why this season feels enough like the first one to join it, as it ought to. Duh! There is apart of me that would love to see the universe expand to a third season, focusing on those who are closest to the primary characters. However, there has been no indication that another season is in the works and as unfortunate as that seems, it would not necessarily be a bad maneuver. Season 2 had to narrow its scope just to flesh out enough material here and I think a third addition would require even more of that, which might not work as a whole, new season. With that in mind, perhaps a miniseries could be arranged, but that is just MY idea. “Swagger,” I hope I see you again, but if I do not, it has been nice knowing you. You were one of the good ones, I do not mind saying.
